Fedora os

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Fedora OS

Fedora is an operating system based on Linux kernel and GNU programs, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat.Fedora contains software distributed under a free and open-source license and aims to be on the leading edge of such technologies.Fedora Core 1 was the first version of Fedora and was released on November 6, 2003.If anyone has experience using other linux distributions like ubuntu then running Fedora shouldn't be a problem for them .


Features

Fedora has a reputation for focusing on innovation, integrating new technologies early on and working closely with Linux communities.As a complete Linux distribution, Fedora is packed with incredible features. As a distribution with a rapid release cycle on the front edge of innovation, Fedora contains many new and interesting technologies that are often not found in other distributions. Here, we document just a portion of the key features that make Fedora stand out above the rest.

Freedom

Fedora is infinite freedom. With a strong commitment to free and open source technologies, you don't have to worry about being held back by restrictive patent or copyright licenses. You also have the freedom of choice. Fedora has a huge variety of interoperable and standards-compliant programs. Beyond Fedora Core, Fedora Extras provides a massive number of packages for all kinds of purposes. You can truly use it however you wish.

Security & Reliability

Security is very important in Fedora with one specific security feature being Security-Enhanced Linux, which implements a variety of security policies, including mandatory access controls, which Fedora adopted early on.With new and advanced security features like SELinux, Exec-Shield, along with traditional features like a solid firewall, Fedora leads the pack when it comes to security. You also don't have to worry about being left without important security fixes. With rapid response times and maintenance packages for previous releases, Fedora stands behind its releases. Even releases that have passed their End of Life get limited maintenance support from Fedora Legacy . Fedora Core does have support for automatic updates, so you don't necessarily have to monitor update releases. Add to this the solid track record of Linux, and you have an awesome security powerhouse.[1]

Ease of Use

With the user-friendly Gnome desktop, and constant attention to ease-of-use from the Fedora developers, you don't have to worry about not being able to use your Fedora Core system. If you should run into problems, though, we are always here to help .

Business and Office

Fedora has a large variety of packages for business and office use, including the powerful OpenOffice.org suite.[2]

Entertainment

With the Fedora Extras software repository, you have access to a large variety of games, both simple and complex, covering a wide range of genres. You also have access to other entertaining programs, such as drawing tools and even a space simulator called Celestia. With Fedora, boredom won't trouble you again.

Package management

Fedora uses the RPM Package Manager package management system. Flatpak is also supported by default, and support for Ubuntu's Snappy package manager format can also be added. Fedora uses Delta RPM when updating installed packages to provide Delta update. A Delta RPM contains the difference between an old and new version of a package. This means that only the changes between the installed package and the new one are downloaded reducing network traffic and bandwidth consumption.[3]

Software

Fedora comes installed with a wide range of software such as LibreOffice and Firefox. Additional software is available from the Software repository and can be installed using the package manager or GNOME Software.


Additionally, extra repositories can be added to the system, so that software not available in Fedora can be installed more readily.[4]

Editions

Beginning with Fedora version 21[5] it is available as three distinct primary editions:

  • Fedora Workstation – It targets users who want a reliable, user-friendly, and powerful operating system for their laptop or desktop computer. It comes with GNOME by default but other desktops can be installed or can be directly installed as Spins.
  • Fedora Server – Its target usage is for servers, and it includes the latest data center technologies. This edition doesn't come with a desktop environment, but one can be installed.
  • Fedora Cloud – It provides a minimal image of Fedora which includes just the bare essentials. It is meant for deployment in cloud computing. It also provides Fedora Atomic Host images which are optimized minimal images for container uses.

A Live USB drive can be created using Fedora Live USB creator or the Unix command.It allows the users to try Fedora without making changes to the hard disk.

Spins

Similar to Debian blends, the Fedora Project also distributes custom variations of Fedora called Fedora spins or editions.These are built with specific sets of software packages, offering alternative desktop environments or targeting specific interests such as gaming, security, design, education,robotics, and scientific computing (that includes SciPy, GNU Octave, Kile, Xfig and Inkscape. Fedora spins are developed by several Fedora special interest groups. Fedora also provides a Fedora Atomic Host image for Project Atomic, which is Red Hat's solution for deploying Docker-based containerized applications.[6][7]

Installation Guide

Upgrade or Install?

If you already have Fedora installed and want to upgrade your installation to the current version, there are two basic ways to do so: Automatic upgrade using dnf system upgrade The preferred way to upgrade your system is an automatic upgrade using the dnf system upgrade utility. [8]

Manual Reinstallation : You can upgrade to the latest version of Fedora manually instead of relying on dnf system upgrade. This involves booting the installer as if you were performing a clean installation, letting it detect your existing Fedora system, and overwriting the root partition while preserving data on other partitions and volumes. The same process can also be used to reinstall the system, if you need to.

Downloading Boot and Installation Images

The Fedora Project offers different flavors tailored for some specific use cases. Choose the Fedora flavor best for you, or you can build your own by customizing after the installation, or by using a kickstart file . Kickstart installation requires the netinstall media type, or a direct installation booting method such as PXE; kickstarts are not supported with live images.

You can also choose a Fedora Spin featuring favorite alternative desktops or tools for specialized tasks at http://spins.fedoraproject.org.

Verifying the Downloaded Image

Because transmission errors or other problems may corrupt the Fedora image you have downloaded, it is important to verify the file's integrity. After the images are created, an operation is performed on the file that produces a value called a checksum using a complex mathematical algorithm. The operation is sufficiently complex that any change to the original file will produce a different checksum. By calculating the image's checksum on your own computer and comparing it to the original checksum, you can verify the image has not been tampered with or corrupted. The original checksum values are provided at https://fedoraproject.org/verify, and are gpg signed to demonstrate their integrity.

Verifying checksums on Windows systems

1. Download the Fedora image of your choice from https://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora and the corresponding checksum file from https://fedoraproject.org/verify 2. Open a powershell session. 3. Change to the directory containing the downloaded files.

> cd $HOME\Downloads\

> ls

Directory: C:\Users\your user name\Downloads

4. Load the resources required to calculate the checksum.

> $image = "Fedora-Server-DVD-x86_64-21.iso"

> $checksum_file = "Fedora-Server-21-x86_64-CHECKSUM"

> $sha256 = New-Object -TypeName System.Security.Cryptography.sha256CryptoServiceProvider

> $expected_checksum = ((Get-Content $checksum_file | Select-String -Pattern $image) -split " ")[0].ToLower()

5. Calculate the downloaded image's checksum. This will take a while!

> $download_checksum = [System.BitConverter]::ToString($sha256.ComputeHash([System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes("$PWD\$image"))).ToLower() -replace '-',

6. Compare the calculated checksum to the expected checksum.

> echo "Download Checksum: $download_checksum"

> echo "Expected Checksum: $expected_checksum"

> if ( $download_checksum -eq "$expected_checksum" ) {

echo "Checksum test passed!"

} else {

echo "Checksum test failed."

}

Verifying checksums on Linux and OSX systems

1.Download the Fedora image of your choice from https://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora and the corresponding checksum file from https://fedoraproject.org/verify

2.Open a terminal window, and navigate to the directory with the downloaded files.

$ cd ~/Downloads

3.Use the appropriate utility to verify the image checksum. >>For Linux: $ sha256sum -c *CHECKSUM For OSX: $ shasum -a 256 -c *CHECKSUM

Preparing Boot Media

Fedora images are Hybrid ISOs and can be used to create installation media with both optical and USB disks, for booting on both BIOS and UEFI systems.Most media creation methods in this section are destructive. Ensure you do not need any data on the USB stick, and double check you have chosen the correct device before continuing.

1. Download the latest Windows Installer file from Marin Briza's github page: https://github.com/MartinBriza/MediaWriter/releases.

2.Run the installation by double clicking it, and then clicking next through the set-up wizard. The Wizard gives you the options to customize the software's installation if you choose to.

3. In Windows 8 and 10, the application will be under "all apps" under F for Fedora Media Writer. Or in Windows 10, you can just type Fedora Media Writer in the search box on the task bar.

4.Select the Fedora flavor you wish to make a bootable USB drive for.

5. If you choose one of the beginning default Fedora editions, such as Fedora workstation or server. Fedora Media Writer will give you information and details about it before you proceed with the download and USB creation. For Fedora Workstation, you can choose a different architecture, such as 32bit if you select "other architectures". Otherwise select "Create Live USB" to proceed.

6. Fedora Media Writer will automatically download the ISO for you, but if you all-ready have it in your Downloads directory it will be immediately available to use.

7. After the download completes, or when Fedora Media Writer is ready. Plug in a USB drive you wish to use as a bootable media.

8. Click the red "Write to disk" button.

Booting the Installation

To boot the Fedora installer, follow these steps:

>>Plug in the boot USB drive, or insert the boot CD or DVD into your computer's optical disc drive. Alternatively, if you plan on booting from a network boot (PXE) server, make sure that the network cable is plugged in. >>Restart the system. Once it starts rebooting, it should display a prompt similar to the following (usually at the bottom of the screen): Press F12 to select boot device, or Del to enter SETUP Follow the on-screen instructions to access the boot menu. If no instructions are displayed (some systems only display a graphical logo during early stages of boot), try pressing F12, F11, F10 or Del several times; these are most commonly used keys. Note that there is usually a very short time window provided to access the menu; once it passes, you need to restart the system and try again. >>When your system's boot menu opens, select an entry such as Boot from USB if you created a bootable USB drive, Boot from CD/DVD if you are using an optical disc to install Fedora, or Boot from PXE if you want to boot from a network location. Wait until the boot menu is displayed.

The Boot Menu

In most cases, when you boot the Fedora installer from your prepared boot media or server, the boot menu will be the first thing that appears. From this menu, you can either start the actual installation, or you can use the boot media to rescue an existing system. The way the boot menu will look and function will vary somewhat depending on your system's firmware - BIOS systems use the SYSLINUX boot loader, and UEFI systems use GRUB2. However, both of the menus described below function very similarly from a user's point of view. Use arrow keys to select an entry in the menu, and Enter to confirm your selection. The first two entries in the list will both proceed with the installation; the first one will start the installer directly, and the second one will verify the integrity of the boot media before starting the installation. The final entry in the list is Troubleshooting; this is a submenu. Selecting this entry and pressing Enter will display a new set of selections, where you can choose to install in basic graphics mode (useful if you want to do a manual graphical installation but your system has issues with the default graphical installer), rescue an existing system, or test your system's memory modules for errors (on BIOS systems only). The troubleshooting menu also allows you to exit the boot menu and boot normally from your system's hard drive via the Boot from local drive option. Every menu entry in the list is a predefined set of boot options, and these options can be customized to change some aspects of the installer's behavior. To edit the default set of boot options, press Tab on BIOS systems, or e on UEFI systems. The key to use is also displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Author

Author: ANAMUL HOQUE SHIHAB

Curriculum: Cyber Security Engineering
Group: C11

Date created: 8th May 2017
Last updated: 8 May 2017

References

  1. [1] fedoraproject.org
  2. [2] fedoraproject.org
  3. [3] fedoraproject official site
  4. [4] gutenberg.org
  5. [5] Fedora 21 Release Notes
  6. [6] Fedora Spin
  7. [7] Create and Run Applications in Linux Containers
  8. [8] Official Fedora Installation Guide

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